After The Palestinians Declare Statehood

Pinhas Inbari's important essay, "What Are The Palestinians Planning After September?," appears on the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs website

In a nutshell, Inbari's thesis is that "what the Palestinians really envisage after September is to exploit a UN endorsement of statehood to legitimize an escalation of the conflict." Inbari states further that "after the Palestinians have the 1967 borders recognized so as to negate the results of the Six Day War, they intend to seek recognition of the 1947 partition lines."

Among other things Inbari points out that "the international community is tired of the unending Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the prospect of the United Nations "ending" it in September by recognizing Palestinian statehood is appealing to many." The broad assumption is that the Palestinian state will endeavor to live in peace and coexistence with its neighbor Israel. But Inbari sees the whole situation differently.

"If one studies the details of what the Palestinians really envisage after September," he writes, "serious doubts arise. What they are actually planning is the opposite: to exploit a UN endorsement of statehood in order to legitimize an escalation of the conflict while destabilizing the entire Middle East during a critical period when the region is already agitate.

What does Inbari mean by "escalation of the conflict?"

"The Palestinians do not want to declare a state, but, rather, to leave the conflict open. After having the 1967 lines recognized so as to negate the results of the Six-Day War, they plan to seek recognition of the 1947 partition lines and thereby end the refugee problem - while attempting to inflict economic losses on Israel by suing it for "occupation damages," suing IDF officers on war crimes charges, causing civil war in Israel over settler evacuation, and creating strife between Israel and the United States to the extent of ending their historical special relationship, if possible."

According to Inbari the Palestinians are also plotting to launch a Third Intifada:

"This intifada is not planned to be a terrorist one as the Palestinians - including Hamas - have well learned the lessons from the terror they practiced in the Second Intifada. Instead it is planned to be an 'intifada by peaceful means' of the kind that became very popular in the Arab Spring. Although the methods will not be terroristic, the aims of this Third Intifada are by all means terroristic and posit the destruction of Israel as the final goal.

"Although this Third Intifada that is planned for September appears to be a kind of "spontaneous Facebook event," careful tracking of the leaders of the initiative reveals that they are mostly Hamas activists. Other promoters of the endeavor are radical leftist activists in the West Bank. The Fatah movement, which supposedly should dissent from this campaign as ostensible supporters of a compromise involving the 1967 lines, not only does not object to it but also is posting the link to the Third Intifada's Facebook page on some of its home pages, thereby expressing endorsement of the ominous contents.

"Thus, the Third Intifada is a joint project of all parties in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the diaspora: Hamas, radical leftists, Fatah, and even the PA government in Ramallah."

And how do the Palestinians justify this struggle against Israel?

"In no way will UN recognition of the 1967 borders mark the path to a historic compromise. The Palestinians will not exploit this opportunity to declare a state, but, instead, will use it for international legitimacy to jumpstart the campaign for the 1947 partition plan.

"What the Palestinians plan to do is not to exercise statehood but to declare themselves a "state under occupation" in order to legitimize the escalation of the struggle.^"

There are other black elements in Pinhas Inbari's prognosis for Palestinian statehood recognition in the UN in September. But the present survey of his essay covers the main pitfalls he foresees come September.

One might have hoped that a veteran Palestinian affairs scholar like Inbari would have said something about how Israel ought to confront this Palestinian scheme and stop it in its tracks. But Inbari says nothing about Israeli retaliation. How Israel can put this evil genie back in the bottle? It's a serious consideration however precisely because the state of Israel cannot allow itself to sit and watch while Palestinian devils sacrifice the country on the altar of their insatiable lust and malice.

Just yesterday Foreign Minister Lieberman stated unequivocally that if the Palestinians insist on moving ahead with their unilateral scheme in the UN, Israel will respond with firm unilateral measures of its own. These include voiding the Oslo Accords, terminating tax payments to the PA, annexing Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. There are other tools at the country's disposal. The bottom line is that bilateral negotiations are the only path to a permanent settlement of the conflict. The Palestinian UN statehood declaration is a declaration of war. Inbari's exceptional essay substantiates this.